


The Clearing In The Woods

by gayeggs



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childhood Friends, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up Together, Humanstuck, M/M, Slow Burn, Trans Dave
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-01 10:42:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4016701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayeggs/pseuds/gayeggs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>dave and karkat growing up because theyre adorable and i needed to write something less angsty <br/>but i cant guarantee that there wont be angst in future chapters lmao(:</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You run into the woods without a second glance, wind blowing through your hair.

Your makeshift backpack- which was made up of a blanket wrapped around various snacks and toys tied onto a big stick you found- was rested on your shoulder, the sunlight bringing out the red of the fabric and making it stand out even more.

Your lungs feel like they're on fire, but you like the sensation. It makes you feel excited, like you’re on an adventure, like you’re about to slay some huge beast and win all kindsa eternal glory. You always knew it was your destiny to be a leader and kill a whole bunch of monsters with your own hands.

The woods behind your house was your safe place. It was a place where you didn’t have to worry about anything.

A place where you didn’t have to think about your family, or non-existant friends, or your annoying older brother, or school, or anything.

Once you remember trying to camp out there without telling your dad. You brought your bed comforter and pillow, stole the whole box of capri sun, and took a handful of twinkies, then just ran. You remember that feeling of adrenaline as you sat under the shade of the huge tree right in the middle of the clearing, knowing that your dad had no clue where you were.

And then you started crying because you knew he would be worried. He may even have called the cops.

So you immediately ran back, but not before hiding some of the twinkies in a small hole in the tree. For next time, you thought.

When you arrived back at your house your brother was going haywire, but your dad claimed to have known where you were the whole time. Plus it had only been about 20 minutes.

Your swift feet fly through the patch of bushes that was scattered around the entrance of the woods, and you let out a laugh. That was always your favorite part, trying to run through the bushes as fast as you can. You try to go faster every time, and you might have just broken a record or something.

You remember again once when you tried to jump over the bushes at top speed, then promptly fell to the ground and almost broke your arm. It was sprained for sure, but you’re glad you didn’t break anything. Part of you was kind of regretful about it too. Injuries made in the woods reminded you of battle scars. That would be cool to have. You just don’t like the part where you get hurt. I mean, you’re only 11. You wish you could just have them without having to actually get injured, but that kind of ruins the whole purpose.

You finally make it to the clearing, your shoes muddy and your pants dirty, leaves stuck in your hair. You spot the makeshift hut you made out of sticks, which was godawful but you didn’t care. Surrounding it was various other things you tried to create, like a fire pit and a huge mud pile that was supposed to serve as some sort of war mound but the chance for the need of it never arose. You even tied little streamers all over the tree branches, covered in dumb drawings and colors. The big oak tree loomed over the whole area like a watchful guardian, limbs and branches spewed all around like arms, keeping out all enemies.

Except today, apparently, the tree isn’t doing it’s job.

You drop your bag on the ground as you spot another person.

You’ve never seen them before. They certainly don’t live around your neighborhood. 

They were a kid like you, and about the same height. Maybe a bit shorter. There wasn’t that many interesting features about them other than the fact that their hair was as golden as sunlight.

“HEY!” You shout out. 

They turn around to face you, and the first thing that you notice is their weird shaped sunglasses. They were like triangles. What kind of doofus wears sunglasses like that?

Their golden hair was fairly long and completely wild, tied messily in multicolored little ponytails at the top of their head, the flaxen hair contrasting with their dark skin in a really cool way.

They aggravated the heck out of you.

“Uh, hi.” The person replied. They had a high voice, so you assumed they were a girl.

You barge your way up to her, snacks and blanket left abandoned behind you, and yell, “Why are you here? Who do you think you are??!!”

The girl looked taken aback, eyebrows raised. She shrugs. “I dunno. It’s just the woods, bro.”

“Don’t ‘bro’ me!” You exclaim, stomping your foot on the ground. “This is my place, not yours!”

“Chill out.” She replies, crossing her arms. 

You clench your teeth and forcefully close your mouth to prevent yourself from screaming out. How dare she come into your woods, the woods that you rightfully claimed? No one else is allowed here, not even your dad.

You take a few moments to try to calm yourself down, but a fiery rage still sat in the pit of your stomach. You tried for a more normal approach.

“Who even are you, anyway?” You said, your voice sounding strained.

“My name's Dave.” She replied.

“That’s a boy name.” 

“I am a boy.”

You furrow your eyebrows. “Oh. You sound like a girl.”

Dave frowns, then replies, “Yeah, well I’m not a girl.”

You nod, then shrug. “Well, my name is Karkat. I’m also a boy too, in case you didn’t know.”

Dave nods in response, tilting his head to look around the clearing. He started absentmindedly tugging on pieces of his hair, then continues, “I just moved here with my Bro. We live in those apartments down that way.” They gesture back to the bushy entrance of the forest.

“Hey, I live right by there!” You say in surprise. “That’s weird. I didn’t see anyone moving in.”

Dave shrugged. “We didn’t make a big fuss over it. Bro says moving trucks are lame because you can always just stuff your shit in the car and hustle.”

You're stricken by the casual use of a curse word, but you're kinda used to those words anyway. And, you admit, sometimes you say them when you're really angry, but only in secret.

“This is cool.” You hear his voice speak up. You glance over and watch him looking at the stick hut and the streamers flying in the wind.

You shrug, and walk up next to him. “Yeah, I guess. It could be better, but.” 

He hums in response, then turns his head to the ground, and leans down to pick up a thick branch lying deserted on the ground. He tosses it around in his hands a bit, turning it over a few times.

“What are you doing?” You ask, leaning in to take a closer look. 

“Testing the weight.” He replies, then gets into a weird position with his feet, turning his body to the side but still facing forward. Almost like a fighting stance. 

He turns to you, the stick pointed straight towards your face. 

“Wanna fight?” He says.

Your eyes widen in initial shock. You’ve never had anyone ask to fight you out of nowhere before. 

Your shock turned to excitement, and you felt a determined look grow on your face.

You look around the clearing for another big stick, one preferably better than Dave’s. You can totally cream this loser. After all, you’re taller than him. 

After a few seconds of searching, you find a nice sized one near the foot of the oak tree. You hold it out with one hand, then turn to face Dave. You see him holding his with two hands, so you try to mimic that instead. You aren't sure how to stand, so you just copy what he's doing because it looks pretty legit to you.

You eventually stand parallel to him, then take a deep breath. He nods at you once before running straight towards you in full speed.

You underestimated how much you knew about sword fighting. You’ve watched a few videos of people doing it on youtube, and it definitely interested you, but you didn’t really dig deep into the research. Hell, you don’t even watch that many action movies.You hadn’t practiced anything at all, at least not with other people.

So now, at this moment, you realize how screwed you were.

Dave’s “sword” swung to the right, and you tried to block it, but he swung lower and caught you in the knee. You yelp out in pain, trying to swing back but he swat you in the arm, and you promptly dropped your weapon. You bent down quickly to try to swipe it back, but Dave took advantage of your move and whacked your side. You let out a sharp cry as you pummeled to the ground in defeat, dirt colliding with your face.

You sat up, sputtering out grass, rubbing your side. You could feel bruises forming and felt a sudden rush from it. 

Battle scars.

You see a hand appear in front of your face, reaching out to help you up. You glance up and see the dark sunglasses staring down at you, shadows of eyelashes behind the tint. You hesitate, but grab his hand nonetheless, grumbling as he helps you up.

“Dude, that was so nice.” Dave says, amusement in his voice. “I just straight up pulverized you. That didn’t even last a full five minutes.”

“Okay, I get it!” You grouse, stroking your arm. “Asshole...” You mutter under your breath.

Dave grins. He looks down at your fallen branch, and swiftly picks it up with his free hand, offering it over to you.

“Round two?” He asks. 

You squint your eyes, inspecting the branch. A few silent moments pass before you shake your arms, grabbing your sword.

“Hell yea.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i havent updated in a while but thank yall for the kudos and bookmarks! im glad people are liking and enjoying this, and i hope u enjoy it even more!

After that day, every time you went back into the woods Dave was there. You wondered if he spent more time there than you did, which was probably highly unlikely. 

The first couple of days you got irritated from him still being there, wanting nothing more than to enjoy your own company alone in your forest.

But, as time passed, you kind of enjoyed him being there with you. You realized you didn’t have that many friends, just some kids in the neighborhood who you occasionally spoke to at school, cousins, and your dad’s friend’s kids.

Weeks flew by, and you officially granted him permission to hang out with you in the woods. Dave just shrugged in reply, but you knew he appreciated it more than he let on.

Since it was the summer, you both had plenty time to waste, so you were constantly lost in the green, running around and scaling trees, sword fighting and practicing survival. Once you remember going out late at night and meeting dave by the bushes. He was holding lighter fluid and a big box of matches. You weren’t sure if it was a good idea, but Dave kept insisting, and you guessed he knew more than you did.

Thankfully you didn’t start a forest fire. You had both laid down a bunch of sticks and branches and leaves, put lighter fluid on it, and hoped for the best. The fire ended up flaring out and reaching to Dave’s shoes that he took off earlier. There wasn’t much left of them after they managed to put the fire out, but Dave seemed unperturbed. “I can just buy new ones, man, my Bro’s loaded. He could probably buy out the whole goddamn Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention company,” he claimed, and that was that. You both decided not to tell anyone what happened. Especially not your brother, dear god. He would ban you from the woods completely. 

It wasn’t until about a whole month passed before you had your first sleepover.

You and Dave were both in the clearing, which was decorated quite a lot more since he showed up. There were significantly more streamers, and Dave would draw dumb little comics on them and song lyrics he thought were cool. Your poor little stick hut had transformed into a better little stick hut, this time it being made of whole planks of wood instead of tiny, pathetic twigs. You could almost sit in it without it falling apart for a good 5 seconds. 

The sun shown through the thick branches of the oak tree, which you’ve both decided to name “Dixie Nourmus.” Dave came up with it, of course. You didn’t get it at first, so you just blindly agreed, but within the short time span you realized. You can’t really change the name now, so theres no going back.

You both sit on a big log that you two dragged from the densest parts of the forest from a knocked-over and rotted tree, eating fruit roll-ups. You had just finished sparring with your trusty branch-swords, yours almost breaking in half in the progress, but you have to admit that you’re getting better. He still kicked your butt, and you’ve gained more bruises this whole month than you would have liked, but still. Progress.

You two were talking about nothing in particular, saying dumb stuff that randomly pops into your heads, laughing and cursing at each other. Dave seemed to curse regularly, which brought out your confidence. You could never curse in front of your family, but being able to in the woods with your only friend was exhilarating. 

You found out that you can curse like a sailor for an Almost-12-Year-Old. 

A short silence stretched out as you ate your respective fruit roll-ups, him being almost done and you being not even half finished. You tried to eat it faster. 

Suddenly, Dave broke the silence, and spoke, “Hey, what if I came sleepover at your house?”

You pause from eating your fruit roll up, and contemplate for a moment. You never really had anyone sleepover at your house before. Only cousins and stuff. You wonder what your dad would say, but he would probably be cool with it. He’s a pretty nice guy. You shrug, then continue biting at the candy. “Yeah, you probably could.”

“Cool.” Dave nodded. “When we go back you can go ask your dad, and I can go ask my bro.”

You shrug again. “I dunno why you would even wanna sleepover at my house.” You gripe. “I mean, you said that your Bro was pretty much rich. My family’s not really that well off.”

Dave shrugs back. “So? You’re my friend. Who cares?”

You take in a sharp breath, and crinkle your forehead. You open your mouth to say something, but nothing really comes out. You haven’t heard anyone call you a friend before. Not to your face, at least.

You look over to him just as he threw his fruit-roll up wrapper on the ground, pushing up his pointy sunglasses. His hair was as wild as ever, red clips trying to keep it all together. You feel yourself smile a bit, then rip your teeth into the roll-up.

“Well, okay then. Sounds like a plan.”

“Sweet.” Dave nodded before turning to you and giving you a small toothy grin.

 

It wasn’t until later, when you both asked your respective guardians, got their permission, and parted ways to get everything ready, when the excitement settled in.

You’ve never had anyone sleepover at your house. Ever. Cousins don’t count, because you’re pretty much required to be their friend from birth, thats what cousins are. But this was an actual friend. A person who didn’t immediately run away from you because you were too loud, or too mean, or too emotional.

They chose to be your friend, and you chose to be theirs. 

As you finished cleaning your room and making it at least somewhat presentable, you wonder what was gonna happen. What even did happened at sleepovers? You’ve only ever watched them in movies, but they were usually girl sleepovers with pillow fights and stuff. Pillow fights are lame, you’ve decided. If you really wanted to fight, you would just go outside and grab a stick. But you were excited nonetheless.

It shouldn’t have been such a big thing, but to you it was. All throughout elementary school no one would talk to you or sit by you during playtime. I mean, you couldn’t really blame them. To put it bluntly, you were a little bitch.

You were always yelling and screaming and whining and griping about literally everything, and you cried every 5 seconds. Not much has changed except you complain a bit less. Now, in middle school, it wasn’t much different. You just became more aware of how annoying you were. So you just folded in on yourself, and stopped trying to argue with everyone. No one wanted to talk to you, so you didn’t have many reasons to talk to them. Everyone thought you hated them, so you didn’t bother trying to get them to believe that it wasn’t true.

You always think about how you used to be and just flat out cringe. You hate thinking about you in the past, because you just get more angry. How easy would it have been to just not be like that. If you would have just stopped being such a brat all the time, maybe you would have friends now.

You’re only 11 and you already dislike yourself.

You wouldn’t say you hated yourself, really, because your dad says that hate is a strong word, but you really really don’t like yourself. Or, at least, how you used to be.

But your dad also tells you not to dwell on the past, and if you can, try to build up from it. Or something. 

But you don’t know how to do that. You’re just a kid.

The doorbell ringing breaks your train of thoughts, and all of that mindless drabble flies down the drain as you race to the front door. 

Your older brother, Kankri, seems to have already beat you there, though. He was only a few years older than you, like 15, and he thought he was the boss of everything in the world. Your dad says you should listen to him because he’s your older brother and a teenager, but teenagers are lame anyway. All they do is sleep all day and glare at people. They never do anything fun.

He glances at you once with eyebrows raised as he opens the door, letting in the afternoon air, and the silouette of a young boy standing in the doorway.

He was holding a bag under his arm with High School Musical designs on it, and a big pillow under the other. The sunglasses were still on his face, and his hair was wild and unkept, stray curls flying across his face.

“Sup.” He said once, then took a step into your house.

Your house wasn’t too bad. It was fairly small, but it didn’t really need to be any bigger. At least it had three rooms, so you didn’t have to share with your brother. That would be torture.

There was only one bathroom in the house though, which sucked, but you all dealt with it. Showers were a war with your dad and your brother, each one calling who gets to go first. You all valued showers very much.

The living room also doubled as a dining room, and there was a big table kind of clunked into the corner messily, but there was no where else to put it. Besides, you usually didn’t even eat at the table, you all would sit on the couches while eating whatever there was, watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Man, you love that show.

Basically what you’re trying to say it that it’s not much, and you feel painfully aware of that as Dave looks around.

Apparently, his Bro is pretty rich. Or at least that’s what he says. You feel like he wouldn’t lie to you about that, but you weren’t quite sure. You wonder why he’s living in a shoddy apartment building near the woods if he’s loaded. Knowing that fact soothes your nerves a bit, but still. What if he thinks your house is ugly, or poor-looking, or too dirty, or too small?

Dave just kicks off his shoes and picks them up with his fingers, tosses them on top of his bag, then glances your way as Kankri closes the door behind him.

“Cool place.” He says, nodding towards the living room. 

You give him a deadpan look and snort. “Yeah, sure.”

“Nah, i mean it.” He replies, walking forward. “Wheres your room so I can drop all this heavy stuff?”

You see Kankri open his mouth for a split second and immediately pat Dave’s back and direct him into the hallway before your brother can say a word. And you hope you can keep it that way. If you didn’t scare Dave off, your brother sure will.

You watch as Dave just throws his stuff in the corner as you enter your room, then flops down on your bed with his pillow like he owned the place. He tosses his pillow to the side, then stands up. On your bed. Before you could protest, he just starts jumping.

His sunglasses bobbed on his nose, and he pushed them up with his finger before making one huge leap and falling onto his back right back on the bed with a loud creak.

You watch in bewilderment as he lifts up his hand and gives you a thumbs up. 

“What the heck was that?” You say loudly, eyebrows furrowed. You tried to make it seem like you were mad, but you could feel an involuntary smile creeping onto your face. 

He shrugs, then makes a beat on the mattress with his hands. “Your bed looked really jump-able.”

You scoff, shaking your head. “Thanks?” You say, before deciding to sit down on your big rolly chair near your desk.

The beat from Dave’s hands still went on, and you wondered if he never stopped moving. He was always constantly fiddling his hands or playing with his hair or tapping his foot. He sure was weird.

“Your room is so much more cleaner than mine.” He piped up, glancing your way. “I never clean my room.” You scoff.

“That’s because, unlike some people, I’m not a _barbarian_ who doesn’t pick up after themselves.”

“Dude, who even uses words like ‘barbarian’ anymore?”

“Regular people!” You shout in defense. 

He laughs a bit, his makeshift beat still going strong. “And people who actually bother to make their beds.”

“Theres NOTHING WRONG with that!” You seethe.

And suddenly, loud footsteps barge through the hallway, and you spin your chair around to the front door, already knowing it was your dad. He walked really loudly.

He appeared at the door, and immediately after seeing Dave smiled and waved, exclaiming a big “HEY!”

You wince and yell, “Dad, chill out!” Then you wince again, realizing you were being just as loud as him.

Your dad grins down at you, then grins down at Dave, who was now sitting up on your bed, readjusting his glasses.

“You must be Dave?” Your dad questioned, walking over to give him a dadly handshake.

Dave nodded, reaching over to supply the handshake. You realized Dave was as still as a statue, his handshake really tense and weird. You wonder what was wrong, but decide not to ask.

“Yup, that’s me,” Dave replied. “You must be Mr. Karkat’s Dad.”

Your dad laughed a bit, putting his hand in his pocket after they finished handshaking. “You can call me that if you want, but you can also call me Mr. Vantas. It’s a bit shorter to say, anyway.”

Dave nodded, giving him a small smile that looked a bit forced. You wonder again why he seems to uncomfortable. Is it because your dad is so loud and big? He can be a bit intimidating to most people, sure, but he’s a huge dope in reality. Is it because of your ugly room? Your tiny bed? Is he already starting to rethink coming here?

“So,” Your dad claps his hands together suddenly, and you jump, pulled out of your thoughts. “For dinner tonight, we’ll be having the most finest cuisine I’ve ever served in this household.” He continues dramaticlly. You inwardly groan as he finishes with, “Mac and cheese with dinosaur nuggets.”

“Oh, sweet,” Dave exclaims. You could see a small smile form on his face, and he looks to you in thinly veiled excitement. You honestly weren’t sure if the excitement over mac and cheese and dinosaur nuggets was genuine or sarcastic, it was always hard to say. You can bet someone 50 dollars that his high school musical backpack wasn’t serious. 

Some of the tenseness on him had lifted at least, but you still wondered.

You dad claps his hands together again, louder than the first time probably, with a big grin. “Alright! Well, I’ll let you both know when it’s done, and then we can properly meet each other.”

You both nod in reply before you dad gives you a thumbs up and exiting the room, leaving the door just slightly ajar. You heard his loud footsteps pound through the hallway a bit before turning to Dave.

“My dad’s kinda loud.”

He shrugs. “So are you.”

You scoff in offense and take a pencil from your desk, chucking it at his face. He evaded it easily, letting out a mischievous laugh as the pencil hits the wall behind him.

You bumble out of your desk and glare at him once before plopping down on your floor in front of your tiny, shoddy T.V.

You hear Dave crawl over to you from the bed and sit next to you as you pull out your playstation controllers.

“I only have Sonic and Crash Team Racing, so theres not much to choose from, but,” You offer one controller over to him. “Wanna play?”

Dave gives you a crooked smile and nods, taking the controller. “Hell yea.”

You clench your teeth together and glance towards the door, then towards him. “Dude, shh! The doors still open!”

“I don’t talk as loud as you, chill.” He replies, leaning over and turning on your PS1 for you. “They didn’t even hear me.”

You fiddle with the controller’s buttons. “You don’t know my brother. He can hear a curse word from a mile away.” 

Dave scoffs. “Then he sounds a lot different than my Bro.”

“From what I’ve heard, he is.” You nod. “Drastically.”

“Dude, whats up with all these big words?” He questions incredulously. “We don’t go back to school until August.”

“Shut up,” You gripe. “I read a lot of books!”

“Nerd.” He whispers, giggling.

“OKAY,” You shout, grabbing back his controller. “I change my mind! You’re not allowed to play anymore."

Dave sighs dramatically and leans his head on his hand, making a mock pouty face at you.

You punch his arm with your free hand and yell, “SHUT UP!” 

He jumps and rubs his arm, but laughs nonetheless. “I didn’t even say anything!” 

You felt an involuntary smile crawl up your face and you hit him again for good measure before throwing back the controller to him, not even bothering to see if it hit his face before taking out Crash Team Racing and slipping it into the console.

“Get ready to lose, idiot.” You say as you press start.

Dave takes a rubber band from his wrist and ties his hair up before cracking his fingers, picking back up his controller. “Yeah, right, loser.”

 

After a few minutes of yelling, punching, and frantic button-smashing, you were both halfway through the course before your dad called you for dinner.

You groaned outwardly, eyes glued to your T.V screen, trying to tell him to hold on for a second, but once he started using his serious voice you immediately turned off the console. His serious voice was not to messed with. You were sure if he tried, he could sway whole nations to believe something they hadn’t once before with that voice. That voice scared the hell out of you.

You wish you had a serious voice like that. You think you just sound whiny most of the time.

Dave threw his arms up when the T.V shut off, and he opened his mouth to say something, probably a curse word, and you threw your hand on his mouth, glared at him once, then started walking towards your door. Dave just rolled his eyes and followed you without a word.

Once you both made it to the kitchen, your dad was all smiles and greetings, like usual. He ushered you both to sit at the dinner table, which you groaned at. You didn’t want him to make a big deal out of it; it was just a friend sleeping over! Usually he only makes you eat at the dinner table if theres family members over or whatever, and you didn’t think this was necessary. You just wanted to sit on the couch and eat your dinosaur nuggets while watching Fresh Prince and making jokes. You wonder if Dave watches Fresh Prince. Probably, you thought, because it’s the best show in all of existence, after all.

You both grabbed your paper plates of mac n cheese and dino nuggets and sat down at the table. You quickly took your place at the head of the table before anyone else could; you all always fought over it and all agreed that whoever sits there first can sit there the rest of the meal. You usually got there first. You have a feeling your brother and dad are letting you get it first, but you like thinking you beat them.

Dave sits in the chair to the right of you, folding his legs under him and fiddling with the fork. He was look around the room, but you werent sure what his emotions were because he was still wearing those sunglasses for some reason, and they hid most of his face. Not being able to read his eyes was a bit difficult. You only remember him ever taking them off when it was really dark, like if you went out to the woods after the sun went down. You still never asked him why he wore them all the time.

You opened your mouth to ask him, but was interuppted just as your brother took a seat to your left, asking before you could, “So, Dave, why are you still wearing those sunglasses inside? The suns going down.”

Dave started to answer, but was cut off again. You brother continued, “Sorry if that sounded a bit sudden, or forceful. I was just wondering, and we probably all were.”

“Kankri, shut up!” You grumble loudly.

Dave shrugs and speaks up before anyone else could say anything, replying “I actually have this weird light sensitivity thing or whatever. My eyes freak out in a lot of light, so i gotta keep them covered most of the time.” He chews on some mac and cheese before adding, “It’s not all bad, though, cuz I got these cool shades out of it.”

Kankri nodded with that look he always makes when he takes in peoples answers to his questions, like he’s really thinking about it in depth or whatever. It aggrivates you so much. 

You were intrigued a bit yourself though. You had been wondering why he kept wearing those glasses all over, even indoors. That answer made sense. You half thought it was just him trying to be cool or whatever, because that’s what he does.

You fold your legs under you and eat a few dino nuggets, waiting desperately for everyone to finish eating so you and Dave can just go back to your room and finish Crash Team Racing. 

“So, Dave, you live in those apartments across the road?” Your dad asks, happily eating his meal. You noticed your brother was just picking at his nuggets, and you were about to take them from him if he won’t even eat them.

Dave nodded and shrugged. His shoulders gave off that same tense look it did when your dad first introduced himself. It’s a long shot, but you wondered if he was scared of your dad. But, that probably wasn’t it. Your dad was a real people person, and people usually tended to like him, especially kids.

Your dad smiled over to Dave, the corner of his eyes crinkling a bit. You wondered if your dad noticed Dave’s weirdness too, because when he began talking again, his tone was a bit softer.

“You only just moved in recently, I heard. Where from?”

“Uh, Texas.” Dave replied. “Houston.”

Your dad raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Nice! I’ve been there a few times before, I believe.” He ate a fork-full of mac n cheese and continued, “What made you want to move here?”

Dave opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. He fiddled with his fork, and you saw his leg bounce under the table. He almost looked nervous. “I dunno. My bro just decided we were moving.”

“Just decided?” Kankri spoke up. His eyebrows were lowered in confusion. “There was no reason?”

Dave shook his head a bit and shrugged. “He told me a few days before so I could get my stuff together.”

“Hm.” Your dad hummed. “Do you live with just your brother?” He looked like he wanted to say more, but decided to stop it at that.

Dave nodded.

Kankri put down his fork, and although the clank of it against his plate wasn’t that loud, it rung through the cramped space of the 'dining room.’ “What happened to your parents? Did they leave?” As an afterthought, he put in, “Did they pass away?"

“KANKRI!!!” You shouted. “SHUT UP!!! Who even are you to ask him questions like that, you don’t even know him!!!”

Kankri scoffed at you, giving you that look that says ‘I’m older than you, so I’m better than you.’ You grit your teeth as he says in a calm voice, “I’m sorry if that question offended you, Dave. I can see how that could affect someone. Especially a kid, at that. But, you see, our mother died when we were younger, I was about your age, so the offense wasn’t purposeful. If the same happened to you, we would at least know the same feelings you have, to an extent, and I thought that it would just be a bit polite to ask-“

You threw down your fork on the table and stood up violently. Your dad made a noise of protest for you to stop, but you couldn’t hear him over your own heart-beat. 

“SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH, KANKRI!” You screamed.

“KARKAT VANTAS,” Your dad’s booming voice sounded through the room. You turned your head his way, fists clenched and saw him giving you the “Fatherly Disapproval” face. You looked down.

“Honestly, Karkat. Language,” Your brother muttered, but your dad shot him down with just a look. Kankri lowered his gaze to the floor as well.

Your dad turned to Dave with a small smile on his face, his voice calm and collected. “I’m sorry for that, Dave. You don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to,” He glanced to Dave’s plate, which was now empty of chicken nuggets and asked, “Do you want anymore dino nuggets? We have some more left.”

Dave looked tense, but not anymore tense than he was before. His face was the same as always; blank; and you couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He probably hated you now. He probably wanted to go home.

God, you’re such a sucky host.

“Nah, It's fine.” Dave replied, pushing his plate forward. “I’m kinda full anyway.”

Your dad nodded, giving him the same look he gives you when he pats you on the back or ruffles your hair. He took all the plates on the table in his hand before Dave spoke again.

“But, I must say that those dinosaur chicken nuggets were real great,” He gave him a thumbs up as he got up from the table. “Send my compliments to the chef.”

Your dad paused for a moment, then genuinely laughed. You glanced at Dave and he gave you a small smile, and it made you feel a bit better.

Moments later as you were all returning to your rooms, you playfully bumped into Dave with your shoulder, saying “What was that? ‘Send my compliments to the chef?’ Really?”

Dave scoffed and bumped you back, replying, “Well, what can I say? I can be polite. I’m not a _barbarian_.”

You tried to trip him as he got to your doorway but he quickly evaded it, jumping over your foot with ease, so you immediately tackle him, rolling back into your room, laughing as you both bumbled around.

He eventually kicked you in the stomach, and you flew off, landing right on your ass, but it didn’t even hurt. You were having too much of a good time to worry about that.

You actually had a real friend for once.

It felt great.

 

 

“Hey,” 

You rolled over in your bed, eyes shut. You thought you heard something, but you were too asleep to even notice.

“Yo. Karkat,”

You take a big breath in suddenly, stretching out your arms before your eyelids groggily tore themselves open. Everything was pitch black for a few moments before your eyes adjusted and you could see anything through the darkness.

“Ay. You awake?” A voice whispers.

You squint your eyes and roll to the side, looking down at the mini inflatable mattress on your floor. Even though it was small, it still took up pretty much the whole room. You had to roll your rolly chair into your closet for it to fit.

Your crab shaped nightlight illuminated Dave’s face a bit. His sunglasses weren’t on, but you couldnt even see his face well enough to see his eyes anyway. He was laying close to the edge of your bed, laying on his side, hands under his pillow.

“What?” You muttered back, your voice sounding annoyed and whiny.

“It’s not your fault,” His voice carried over to you.

You sniffed, registering it for a moment. You sat up a bit, head leaning against your bed frame so you could look down to him. Your eyebrows furrowed. “About what?”

“What happened at dinner, or whatever.” He replied. You saw him shift a bit in the nightlight’s glow.

You scoffed. “It was my stupid brother’s fault. He always butts himself into things that’s not his business.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Dave whispered back, and it reminded you how loud you were being. You mentally told yourself to tone it down a bit.

You sighed. “You don’t have to talk about any of that stuff if you don’t want to. He’s just a butt-head."

There was a pause and Dave hummed. “Yeah. He does seem like a douche.”

“What’s a douche?”

“I dunno. It’s not good though.”

“Oh. Then yeah, he is a douche.”

“A douchebutt.”

“Yeah, a douchebutt.”

There was a long stretch of silence again, but it was a nice silence, you thought. Some time passed, and you thought he was probably asleep again, but you spoke out anyway, “Let’s go to the woods all day tomorrow.”

After a few seconds, Dave replied quietly, “The whole day?”

“Hell yea. The whole entire day. Let’s just stay there and build stuff and swordfight, and climb trees and explore.”

You heard Dave shift again before mumbling back through the darkness, “That sounds awesome to me.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> so this is gonna be all in kks pov and idk whats gonna transpire tbh im writing this on the fly because i need to do this for myself but i hope it ends up being fairly long bc i love this trope  
> enjoy


End file.
